CUSTOMS RULING MUST NOT BE ALLOWED TO CAUSE LONGER LINEUPS

As if our border guards don't have enough problems to deal with --
what with fleeing U.S. felons and hot-under-the-collar Canadian
holidaymakers -- now it seems as if their right to search vehicles for
illegal contraband is being compromised.

In an unprecedented ruling, a court in Surrey has ruled customs
officers at the Aldergrove crossing breached the Charter of Rights and
Freedoms in 2005 when they questioned a man they suspected of
smuggling drugs into Canada. Even though they did, in fact, discover
50 kilos of cocaine stashed in the man's pickup, they were faulted by
Provincial Court Judge Ellen Gordon for failing to obtain a judicial
search warrant.

And that is not something they clearly figured they'd ever have to do.
After all, searching the vehicles of suspected smugglers is simply
part of a border guard's job.

Indeed, Jean-Pierre Fortin, vice-president of the Custom Excise Union,
says the ruling could put his members out of business: "If you remove
our authority to conduct searches . . . why have border guards?"

Now, some will argue that customs officers should not have presumed
they had an absolute right to conduct searches in the first place --
and that, in any case, search warrants can be obtained fairly promptly
by telephone.

But the last thing Canadians need in this post-9/11 world are more
border lineups.

So, let's hope the B.C. government's appeal of this controversial
ruling -- which, it must be remembered, is based on a specific set of
facts -- is heard at the earliest possible opportunity.